June 30, 2016

Way to Squelch, Gil

Poor Barry Bader; not only has he been completely ostracized by his schoolmates, now he’s suffering from trichotillomania. Is Barry no less worthy of the grief counseling Dr. Pearl has afforded Milford High’s other students? Has Gil (or Kaz, for that matter) made any effort to assuage Barry’s guilt and shame over Del’s role in Boo’s death? On which side of the fence does Gil come down on “the sins of the fathers”?

We see that Barry’s erstwhile teammates are ready to go all Old Testament on Valley Tech – an eye for an eye, an ear for a mouth, or something like that.

Today’s comic cameo: Not Me (or is it Ida Know?) from The Family Circus, floating in front of Barry’s door to ask him if he’s staying home from school again.

Looks like ol’ Barry at least tried to make an attempt to go to school. You might think he’d just lay in bed feeling sorry for himself. But no, he’s dressed and apparently showered. Took a little nip of pops Old Crow possibly but just can’t muster up the courage. Maybe he’ll check out his fantasy baseball team. Barry was right about one thing this season. Dustin Pedroia is having a good year. Take that, Ken Brown!

During the ensuing criminal trial, Hakeem testified what he actually heard; “first one to ‘pop out’ or ‘pop up’ or something like that, your honor”. “Perhaps”, replied Judge Hiatt, “but that batter was out and headed back to the dugout when you beaned him. Not a pitch the Court holds in great favor.”

Great etching moment Gil. Does he teach his pitchers how to stick in their ear. If so that is Theo ly thing he apparently coaches since there has never been evidence that he instructs them on anything else.

“Mouthy rival”, eh? Wasn’t Valley Tech the ones who put up a stack of tires on the MFNRD flagpole or something? (Why yes! Yes, they were.) Well, let’s see what they’re cooking up now. I hope it’s not costumed heckling à la Goshen’s Elmer Vargas Sombrero Fiesta or North Bend’s Ted Pearse Hobo Day, because that could get really horrible really fast…

OH NO. What if… what if the stands are filled with Valley Tech louts in old-timey jailbird getup, and the “resolution” of the story is the Mudlark baseball team uniting to have Barry’s back against a common enemy? You guys, I’ve got a bad feeling about this. D-:

Ms. Mac might be onto something. We *are* running out of time for this story arc, (golf anyone?) but it has potential.

Lesse, the girls get clobbered, have a cry and a group hug and won’t be seen again for months. Meanwhile,

The boyz take umbrage to some inappropriate (but well deserved) high jinks, feel pressed to defend The Bader Family Honor (and Boo too?), get into a beanball war, which escalates into a bench clearing brawl, when…. True makes a nice speech, a lesson is learned and THEN we can tee ’em up.

g2, all you left out about Pedro Martinez was Bill Lee’s observation about Don Zimmer, that he was surprised he didn’t bounce, since he always thought Zimmer was full of helium.

I agree with JT– in the first panel that’s Gil and Kaz hoping that VT won’t get goofy, and in the third, Capt Ken issuing the rules on beanballs. And billy put my thoughts into words. Barry has been sulking in his tent, gone from the extreme of loud asshole-ness to the other, self-abnegation, in what I think are two school days. I’ve been kind of wondering if Gil might take note of this too.